A question for Wallylutz (Yu-na Kim's influence and legacy)

Hey Wallylutz,

Since you ask me nicely to take my question out of Mao's thread to curtail the ongoing OT in that thread so I made a thread just to ask that question again.

In many ways, Yuna doesn't have any one overwhelming strength. Her jumps are good but not historically best (not in the realm of Ito or Harding), her spins are also not in the league of the best (Lucinda Ruhl, Alissa Czisny, etc.) and her spiral sequences are not the best (i.e. Sasha Cohen, Kwan, Czisny, etc.) either. Even her step sequence are the not the best (i.e. Kwan, Mao, even Suzuki) . And as you've said before, she doesn't even do a complete set of jump for the ladies (she doesn't currently do a 3Lo) and you say even her Salchow is tiny and barely rotated. And you also mentioned that she rarely skates a clean free skate (which is true) so why do you say this:

history will surely remember this amazing skater who changed the course of this sport most likely for the century to come

In what way do you think she has changed the course of the sport? Thanks.

I'm not Wallylutz, but I think the place where Yu-na Kim has an overwhelming advantage over the field in CoP is in the GOEs on her jump elements. She can easily get +2 GOE on her opening combo and+1's all on the rest, for about an 8-point head start -- more points than for an extra triple Axel.

I'm not Wallylutz, but I think the place where Yu-na Kim has an overwhelming advantage over the field in CoP is in the GOEs on her jump elements. She can easily get +2 GOE on her opening combo and+1's all on the rest, for about an 8-point head start -- more points than for an extra triple Axel.

Ain't that the truth. And she can get +2 even when executes an iffy jump. How do you win against that?

But that still doesn't answer the question of how she changed the course of figure skating. Yuna's jumps are great but there have been better or at least equally amazing jumpers in the past. To me it seems that ladies figure skating has gone a generation back to Ito/Yamaguchi days in terms of technical content. Actually, I am curious to see what Wallylutz's has to say about this. The only thing I could think of is that she may encourage more skaters to perfect their techniques, because that's the only way to gain an advantage in the GOE's, which seems to be the key to winning these days. But I am not sure if that's a trend set by one skater or the system itself.

I'm not wallylutz either but Yu Na has her name in the history books for different reasons
- the first skater from Korea to make a deep impact to the skating world (much like Lu Chen, in her case even a stronger one)
- attracting huge masses of audiences from all asia and south korea, who follow her quassi religiously: it's certainly where the money and the shows are now in skating
- she's not invented any single move, but she (along few other ladies) has helped developed the technichal difficulty in this era of skating . You need a 3-3 now for the short and the long. U didn't need any in the Slutskaya/Kwan period
-As Mathman said the GoE in her jumps and the speed she has is unrivaled right now. That's a huge advantage in today's scoring system
I'm not even a fan, but I will for sure remember Yu Na Kim as one of the best skaters ever

Ain't that the truth. And she can get +2 even when executes an iffy jump. How do you win against that?

Ah, yes, the hype dies down. Her fans/ her fanatics/her $$$ and her national heroism affect the judges marks. I remember Kwan gushing pre-Vancouver, "I've never seen a skater fly into her triple/triples that way!" Erm, Michelle, if you lurk, have you so quickly forgotten Irina Slutskjaya?

Ah, yes, the hype dies down. Her fans/ her fanatics/her $$$ and her national heroism affect the judges marks. I remember Kwan gushing pre-Vancouver, "I've never seen a skater fly into her triple/triples that way!" Erm, Michelle, if you lurk, have you so quickly forgotten Irina Slutskjaya?

I said, she can even get positive GoEs for an iffy jump. A system where an iffy jump is given positive marks is an interesting judging system.

On another note, I don't think Yuna will be remembered in the long run for her skating per se, but she will be remembered for being the first Korean skater to become an Olympic figure skating champion. I am not her fan and she was extremely lucky to have performed under a system that highlighted her strengths and ignored her faults. However, that does not take away from the strength and determination that was required of her to be a pioneer.

As for her impact on future skaters, I think Yu-na has set the standard for using her strengths to maximize her point totals, while not giving anything away in other areas. She is the best CoP skater we have seen so far.

For instance, her spirals are not her strongest element. Yet she knows how to do enough features to get a level four (with +1.4 GOE at worlds, for a performance that was far below her usual standard.) Similarly, her spins are no better than many skaters', but she gets level four and positive GOEs on all of them. She must be doing something right!

I think we will see more and more coaches following the lead of Brian Orser -- the way to win is to score more points than the other guy. Eyes on the prize!

Well...Janet Lynn, for examle, is remembered even without huge success in the competition.
And yes, she deserves the reputation.

For Yuna, she is the role model for CoP and when she's on, no one can beat her under the current scoring system. Not even closer.
After all, figure skating is not just a jumping test.
So it never makes any trouble when Yuna is evaluated higher than, for instance, Midori, the greatest jumper.
Skaters need overall ability for gathering points 'from everywhere' and no one could do it better than Yuna.
Once again She is the role model for CoP.

Plus she won a world champs & O/G with fascinating & historical performances with great scores and artistry.
I think it is so natural to think that she will be remembered as a historical skater with huge influence to other skaters.
Many of the ladies will try to follow Yuna's way for a total package to be the next #1 in the field.
Recently Yuna gave an advice to Korean younger skaters that "Focus on the skating skill, not only jumps and spins"
Yuna proved her way is better than another one focussing on a big jump and sacrificing other elements.

I wonder why we're all talking about technical ability when her musicality and artistry is also part of the equation.

Her jumping repertoire is not as good as Ito's, true. She doesn't do a 3 loop in international competition. However, of the jumps she does do - in particular her lutz, flip and toe (and even 2-axel) are all huge. She isn't the best jumper ever, but she's the best at the moment and pretty good in the history books.

Her artistic ability isn't that of Michelle Kwan, nor is her performance, but it's still pretty darn good and there's no question that she is musical and her performance reflects that.

Michelle Kwan on Kim at the 2009 WC: She has three wow factors. First, her speed across the ice. I've never seen a skater fly into a triple-triple combination. And she also jumps... when you see her triple-triple, she - her jumps are humungous! And also, her musical interpretation. She's a great singer, and I think it really shows. She's very lyrical, and she listens to the music.

Dick Button on Kim at 2009 WC: "...one of the few skaters who can answer the question 'where is the jump in that jump?'... it's supposed to fly, and she does. Secondly of all, she skates with great elegance... and thirdly of all, she has wonderful edging, speed and flow... she is simply magnificent." See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y2_akP0tBQ

Kurt Browning on Kim at 2010 TEB LP: When she is on, Yu-Na takes the momentum of her speed across the ice and changes that into height as well as anybody I've ever seen... but when you attach artistry to the jumps, then you become a winner. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-wajuze5f8

These comments (as well as Scott Hamilton's) lead me to believe that Kim is probably the fastest skater, or one of the fastest skaters ever.

If anything, Kim's ability to blend technical ability with sublime artistic nuances to her performances is what sets her apart. Maybe that's how she's progressed the sport; not only do you need to have a potent 3-3/jumping repertoire to keep up, you also have to have great artistry. In other words, you can't just be an artist nor can you just be a jumper. You have to be both. Kim may not be the best in either, but the fact that she's in the upper tiers in both categories is a great achievement in itself.

Ok. I get that she is the role model of COP. But how does that change the course of figure skating? I mean figure skating was always about the combination of jumps and artistry. I don't remember any period in FS history (at least for ladies) when it was just about the jumps. Also, Kristi was also someone who combined both athleticism and artistry. As were many skaters in the past.

Ok. I get that she is the role model of COP. But how does that change the course of figure skating? I mean figure skating was always about the combination of jumps and artistry. I don't remember any period in FS history (at least for ladies) when it was just about the jumps. Also, Kristi was also someone who combined both athleticism and artistry. As were many skaters in the past.

It's my view that Yu-Na is a bit like an upgraded version of Kristi in that her jumps are bigger, both miss a triple (salchow and loop) and in my mind (opinion-wise), Yu-Na is a better artist. I think "changing the course of figure skating" is a bit of an overexaggeration, but I do think that Yu-Na blends athleticism and grace in a way that other skaters will try to emulate in the future.

Without Yuna, Figure skating under the new scoring system should become just a jumping test.
Change? I don't know.
At least She 'protected' figure skating from all the blah blah about triple Axel, quad Salchow something.